I was surprised but not disappointed Wednesday night when Ryan Seacrest announced rocker-slash-nurse Amanda Overmyer missed the cut that would have allowed her to tour with Season 7’s Top 10 “American Idol” contestants.

For what the competition gained in having its most genuine rocker chick, it lost by having a glorified Janis Joplin impersonator shred ears more often than fellow Bottom 3 contestant Kristy Lee Cook shreds jeans.

I know as I type this, Entertainment Weekly “Idol” expert Michael Slezak is writing his latest defense of one of his favorite Season 7 contestants and plotting new plans to stop Kristy Lee Cook, who manages to pull an Indiana (Oregon?) Jones every week with her escape from the low-vote posse. But as eloquent and convincing as Slezak and his must-read synopses can be, I never could get past Overmyer as a contestant who was far more of a human interest story than a singing sensation.

And there wasn’t even much personality to go with her supposed rebel biker girl façade! The only attitudes she seemed to display were those of mild annoyance (flinching when a fellow contestant attempted to outfit her with Horton elephant ears) and passivity (barely flinching or smiling when Simon Cowell raved about a semifinal performance). It never seemed like Overmyer longed to be associated with the mainstream behemoth and wanted only to reap its rewards. And I think that’s what did her in among “Idol” voters, who don’t want to waste their cell phone texts on people who don’t at least appear to want to win.

In my Feb. 5 recap of the Atlanta auditions that granted Overmyer a ticket to Hollywood, I complained the show “fills the requisite biker/rocker chick niche the show somehow feels the need to fill despite her inevitable Amy Adams/Gina Glocksen-style exit early in the voting process.”

Glocksen finished ninth last season. Adams finished 10th in Season 3. Overmyer finishes 11th. Hate to say I told you so. Wait, no, I don’t.

More about the remaining contestants and the rest of this week’s nominally improved results show after the break.

Also in the Bottom 3? My favorite female vocalist, Carly Smithson. But when I went back and watched Wednesday’s Beatles medley, no girls squealed when she took the mic like they did for David Archuleta and David Cook (who deserve the cheers) and Jason Castro (who doesn’t). Then again, none of the girls this season seem to get that reaction. So I might have just listed this year’s Top 3—and they’re all guys, in case you didn’t notice.

That said, with Seacrest first to be banished to the Bottom 3 stools, the producers cleverly alerted America of the potential of a competition without Carly, which obviously would be far inferior. Now, she stands to pick up some of the female rocker votes that she deserved the entire time Overmyer’s been performing on the show.

So how does one explain KLC’s placement in the coveted Top 10? It’s more than just the fact that she’s pretty and the lone contestant committed to singing country. When it was announced that Kellie Pickler would be on this week’s edition of “Idol,” could that have inspired more heartland viewers to tune in… and perhaps vote accordingly? It’s a theory. Either way, Ms. Cook now has the benefit of the exposure of a national tour. And I have the benefit of eye candy for (only?) one more week.

The results show this week was just as boring as last week’s, but at least more tolerable. Why? Because the producers made the right decision in not showing the performances of the contestants with the three lowest vote totals. Instead, they returned to last year’s proper Top 12 format, allowing only the departing vocalist to sing one last time and showing the swarm of contestants surrounding him/her with fake/real support. David Hernandez deserved that final live moment on air last week and we never saw him again after his bye-bye montage rolled. And that’s a shame.

Some of this year’s celebrity mentors were announced during the show: Dolly Parton (who doesn’t love at least her personality?), Mariah Carey (a must-watch show for the right and wrong reasons), Andrew Lloyd Webber (snore) and Neil Diamond (I’d much prefer Will Ferrell’s impersonation of him as a stand-in). I can’t help but think there are more on the way, though, especially as producers realize that it’s otherwise difficult to fill a one-hour results show.

You know what doesn’t fill in that time very well? Call-in questions from the audience, which were impossibly worse this week than last.

OK, one results show segment I did love involved two of my favorite “Idol” ambassadors—Elliott Yamin and Fantasia Barrino—making a trip to Angola to witness some of the ways the $76 million raised during last year’s “Idol Gives Back” benefit helped the needy. The duo distributed some of the 8 million(!) nets used to shield the needy from malaria-carrying mosquitos. It was also touching to see Yamin’s reaction to hearing the name of one baby boy, “Elliott,” in his honor. The cynical side of me, though, thinks that the kid’s name is something else but that scenario was set up to make for good TV. I hope not.

I have no idea why the living members of punk pioneers The Clash released the rights to “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” for the most soulless rendition of that song I’ve ever heard. And yet, again, I like the theme that was used (old-timey, campy horror flick). I just think it’s the juxtaposition that bothers me most. Don’t pick edgy punk songs or alternative favorites—like last week’s “The Distance” by Cake—if you’re going to do a campy, corporate music video. If the video’s camp, the song should be, too.

Out of 25,000 entries and after 2.5 million votes, the best “Idol” finale song submissions and voters could do last year is “This Is My Now”? Blech. Time to end that contest.

As much as I’ve complained about Kellie Pickler and raved about Blake Lewis these last two years, I’ll be the first to say Pickler sounded better on her “Idol” results show song than Lewis did. But even though she sounded fine on all five notes of “Red High Heels,” it went on forever! Oh, country music, this is why I struggle with you so often.

And while Pickler is known for her struggle with the English language, I had to laugh at two things she said that were technically correct. When she revealed she was releasing her “sophomore” album, it might have been even more accurate to use the word “sophomoric.” And when I thought the buxom singer said she “just got back from my rack,” I realized she poorly annunciated her last two words, “from” and “Iraq.”

But, hey, at least she seemed pleasant. And there have been too many “Idol” contestants from seasons past that I can’t even say that about.

I never got a chance to predict who would be in the Bottom 3 and eliminated this week, but it’s just as well. I would have guessed Ramiele Malubay (whose “aww-I’m-so-cute-yet-pitiable” shtick is getting reaaaally old), Michael Johns (who is cool enough but needs to nail a song soon) and Kristy Lee Cook. I would have predicted Malubay’s departure.

My ideal Bottom 3 scenario for next week, realizing that in no way is this happening: Jason Castro, Ramiele Malubay and Kristy Lee Cook, with one of the first two going home.

(Photo by Frank Micelotta/FOX.)